just your every day curiosities and musings

Month: June 2017

It seems that lovers are meant to have those “aha! I knew we were meant for each other all along” moments. Epiphanies of such curious serendipity bring strength to a relationship. They bring meaning and purpose and a powerful sense of invincibility. These aha moments hold two individuals together like cosmic glue.

I can’t help but smile thinking of all of the circumstances and coincidences that my spouse and I have deemed as part of our own cosmic glue. For instance, we were both incredibly in love with New York City. He had family there, and I took a trip there at the golden age of ten ,and it would leave an indelible mark on my heart. We also found out that we both received our First Holy Communion on the same exact day!

I can’t help but believe that all of these circumstances that were so coincidental before we even met are all part of the holy will of God. My hopeless romantic heart will believe in this cosmic glue theory it until the day that I die. And I gladly will tell my son of each and every one of these aha moments!

This has to be more than good luck, for this is far too good than I could ever conceive! These are my thoughts, the words of my heart.

I refuse to attribute the good things in my life to luck. I know that my God must have a master plan, because sheer chance could never deal out to me the goodness that I have met.

What good things do you hold dear in your life? What good things are you grateful for,and simply beyond amazed by? Why is that so? I invite you to wonder about the sheer serendipity in your life.

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I’ve spent the past weeks pondering whether I should maintain posts from my Catholic Twenty-Something on this new blog, Awaken Wonder. I added to them slowly and often spontaneously throughout grad school, a long distance relationship, the beginning of my married and family life, and the establishment of my career in counseling. During that time, I was knocked off my feet to see that I had visitors from all over the world, with over 24k views. And what an honor to have readership. Knowing I had even one reader was such an honor! I am truly humbled.

Recently, I’ve felt like something is amiss, however. My old posts no longer sound like my current voice.My intention for writing has also slowly changed. Glancing through the timeline of my blog, it seems that I went from lots of theological musings to simply reflecting upon my most ordinary happenings, and how they moved me and touched my personal spiritual life and faith journey. With much thought and prayer, I’ve decided that I want to change the tone of my blog yet again, and to give it a new name to signify this change.

So with vigor and excitement, I have decided to move on from Catholic Twenty-Something and to begin anew with Awaken Wonder.

As Christ once said:

People do not put new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise the skins burst, the wine spills out, and the skins are ruined. Rather, they pour new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.

A new name, a new beginning. My hope is to pour new wine into new wineskins with Awaken Wonder. Well, metaphorically.

I’d like to start afresh with a more broad approach for this blog. I’ll write about things that awaken wonder within me, with the hope that I might be able to touch just one soul out there. That beging said, I will still incorporate my faith into my posts; I mean, how could I not, whether directly or indirectly?! Impossible. Catholicism is so core to my being, and it still colors my whole world. So while I will not always blog about faith directly anymore, everything I write about will still be from eyes of faith—my own unique set, that is.

I am not quite sure how this new blog will look. I am not sure how it will be formatted. I do know, however, that it will be challenging and exhilarating with this new focus of “wonder” in mind.

I’ll likely doing my usual blogging about “every day curiosities and musings,” yes. I also might also be putting up a poem or short story on occasion… or reflecting on a song, movie, or other work of art… or writing a book review… or sharing about some new experience or place travelled.

If you have read this far, I am honored that you have. May we walk on this journey of awakening wonder, together!

So I sat before my LORD Jesus, present in the Holy Eucharist in our nearby Catholic church’s 24/7 Adoration Chapel.

Rest. Respite. A time to be LOVED by my LORD. To know that I am loved.

And I felt so much peace. I was so hungry, and Jesus was there. He fed me. I was so thirsty, and Jesus was there. He gave me water. Living water. Himself. All I could hum when I left was Matt Maher’s rendition of “Come to the Water”!

It’s based on the first few verses of Isaaiah 55:

AN INVITATION TO GRACE

All you who are thirsty,
come to the water!
You who have no money,
come, buy grain and eat;
Come, buy grain without money,
wine and milk without cost!

Why spend your money for what is not bread;
your wages for what does not satisfy?
Only listen to me, and you shall eat well,
you shall delight in rich fare.

Pay attention and come to me;
listen, that you may have life.
I will make with you an everlasting covenant,
the steadfast loyalty promised to David.

Eucharistic Adoration… I highly recommend it. It is impossible to take your life and your loved ones for granted when you feel so loved by Jesus Himself, truly present before you!

You will be swept by His beauty. You will be moved to wonder about what He has given you in this life. You will praise Him. You will thank Him. You will be filled with joy, and know that it is complete in Christ alone. But don’t take my credit for that train of thought.

Just so happens that I also saw this GEM of a tweet today (just below)! Definitely a quote that will serve as a weapon in my spiritual arsenal on my conquest for JOY. Because joy, my friends, is what we are made for!

@FOCUScatholic:

We need beauty because it leads us to wonder. We need wonder because it leads to praise. Praise leads to gratitude. Gratitude leads to joy.